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Gotham
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Author:  Trooper [ Fri Sep 26, 2014 14:55 ]
Post subject:  Gotham
Just watched the pilot over lunch. It was.... alright.

It's very Smallville/Arrow/Agents of Shield in tone and feel. It remains to be seen if it turns out to be a monster of the week kind of show, but I very much suspect it will be. I was hoping for something closer to "True Detective" but set in Gotham, as I thought it was supposed to be this gritty realist take on the origin of the Batman Story. It certainly isn't that, it's just seems to be another superhero based, seen it all before, show. Albeit without the actual superhero.

Having said that, it was perfectly watchable, and will probably be up there with the best of these type of shows.

It does have a few issues:

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
When is it set, exactly? I know this is a made up world, but it's set 30 years in the past, and people seem to drive old cars, yet take photos with digital cameras and talk on their mobiles :shrug:
It's also incredibly fortuitous that Gordon's first case with his partner is the Wayne murders, and in the first few days of that case he either meets directly or is part of interaction with... A young catwoman, a young riddler, a young penguin, a young poison ivy and possibly even a young joker. What are the chances, eh? Give it a rest please, we know it is set in the batman universe, you don't need to shove it down our throats every second.
Author:  GazChap [ Fri Sep 26, 2014 14:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
A young catwoman, a young riddler, a young penguin, a young poison ivy and possibly even a young joker.

The sums of the angles of that rectangle are too monstrous to contemplate.
Author:  markg [ Fri Sep 26, 2014 15:06 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
Trooper wrote:
Just watched the pilot over lunch. It was.... alright.

It's very Smallville/Arrow/Agents of Shield in tone and feel.

So, absolute dogshit then?
Author:  Trooper [ Fri Sep 26, 2014 15:15 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
That's a bit harsh, Marvel got good towards the end of the first series, and Smallville had its moments.
Author:  LewieP [ Fri Sep 26, 2014 15:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
I thought it was OK.

I gather it is deliberately set in an impossible time period, which is probably better than setting it in present day.

Casting is a bit of a mixed bag. I think Ben McKenzie was a good choice for Gordon, doesn't matter so much if he is just a generic "man with unflinching desire to do the right thing" if he's got other interesting characters to bounce off. Don't think Sean Pertwee is a great choice for Alfred, and in the first episode at least he was a bit one note. The guy they've got playing Penguin seems great for the role. I don't really like Jada Pinkett Smith, but I'll give her a chance.

Feels a lot to more like they've tried to shoehorn "Batman" into the format of a regular crime procedural more than they have tried to make a show about superheroes.

If it's got legs, I wonder how close to Batman they will actually get.

Tone wise if feels pretty similar to the Nolan movies. Not directly connected to them, but feels like they could be (even if it's obviously a much lower budget).
Author:  Trooper [ Sun Oct 05, 2014 20:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
Episode 2 was much better I thought :)
Author:  KovacsC [ Sun Oct 05, 2014 20:55 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
Arse missed it
Author:  Dr Zoidberg [ Sun Oct 05, 2014 21:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
Does anyone remember Birds of Prey from about ten years or so back?

Young catwoman looks incredibly similar to Huntress in that.
Author:  Trooper [ Thu Mar 05, 2015 19:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
Binged on the rest of the aired episodes while I was ill the past few days.
It really bloody good! It's gritty, it's complex , it's not a monster of the week show that I expected it to be. It's very well acted, has a great storyline and actually manages to throw up a few surprises along the way, considering the source material.
At it's heart, it's really a show about The Penguin... ;)

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
just met Joker in the last but one episode, that was very well done. A good bait and switch from expecting the circus episode to be about Harley Quinn.
It might just be my lack of in depth knowledge about the source material, but I didn't realise it was him until he "changed" in the interview
Author:  LewieP [ Thu Mar 05, 2015 19:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
Sort of bugs me because I prefer the notion of no one consistent origin for The Joker, where there are multiple different conflicting accounts of how he came to be. Seeing a slice of his actual origin seems to undermine the character a bit. Good performance though, and I'm always down with Mark Margolis getting work.


I dunno about the show overall. It's a real mess tonally, with silly masked villain antics side by side with pretty brutal stuff. I'm not too invested in Gordon, I would also really like to see The Penguin getting more prominence (he's the best thing in the show imo). For me, I think it would benefit from embracing the sillier over the top stuff a bit more.
Author:  Derek The Halls [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
I find Gordon very boring and agree The Penguin is what the show really hangs on. I'm not entirely sure what Fish is all about but hey there you go.
Author:  Bamba [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
I stopped watching it after about four episodes because, as Lewie says, it's all over the place. It doesn't have the slightest idea whether it wants to be serious police procedural or a creche for pantomime performances and for every story point it puts out that draws you in it pushes you away with stuff like Jada Pinkett Smith's hammy bullshit, or the sub-soap opera nonsense between Montoya and Gordon's fiancé. Even the stuff with The Penguin--which I agree is the most interesting aspect of the show, and seeing him claw his way up the ranks is a great hook for a show that is essentially the origin story for Gotham itself--has enough of a whiff of scenery chewing am-dram bullshit to ensure I could never fully buy into it. I realise as I type that these are weird accusations to be chucking at something which plays with comic book characters, but if recent years have proved anything it's that you can present this kind of stuff in a way that credibly balances the mundane with the fantastical without either side being a liability and Gotham keeps dropping that ball in my opinion.
Author:  Derek The Halls [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
I felt pretty much like that at the 4 episode mark but then I went back and scanned through episodes 4-9 and it got me hooked. I try to view it as something not exactly connected with Batman in the end... odd though that may seem. Try to view it as its own entity as a city with some very weird people in it. Gets more interesting that way.
Author:  Bamba [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
Derek The Halls wrote:
I felt pretty much like that at the 4 episode mark but then I went back and scanned through episodes 4-9 and it got me hooked. I try to view it as something not exactly connected with Batman in the end... odd though that may seem. Try to view it as its own entity as a city with some very weird people in it. Gets more interesting that way.


I'm not really bothered about the Batman connection at all and am happy to just watch it, or not, on it's own merits. Even at that though it's just utterly unbalanced and I just can't buy into it when it's so all over the place.
Author:  Trooper [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
Yeah, I stopped too after about episode 4, with the same thoughts, but illness made me push through and binge on the rest, and it really gets a lot better mid season.
Author:  LewieP [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
I agree it gets more entertaining later on, but it still has problems.
Author:  nickachu [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
I've been enjoying it anyway. Some things are a bit all over the place, but I think it's just going to get better and better over time once they figure out what they are doing.
Author:  DBSnappa [ Fri Mar 06, 2015 16:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: Gotham
I'm putting my hat into the ring as well, saying this is good. Sure, it's taken a while to find its feet and yes it was a bit all over the place to start, but now the characters are better established it's really very entertaining. Also, it looks amazing if you can get it in HD. The cinematography is very very good and the locations look brilliant.
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